MovieChat Forums > The More the Merrier (1943) Discussion > Damn the torpedoes!

Damn the torpedoes!

posted 16 years ago by benhere
6 replies | jump to latest

The first time I saw this, I was a little surprised at how many times Charles Coburn got away with saying "Damn" in a 1943 movie, even within the context of a venerable old quote. So, when I watched it again the other night, I kept track. He says "damn the torpedoes" 15 times, plus the shot of the quote at the base of the statue.

I'm guessing audiences got to hear an expletive more in this movie than all the (American) films of the next 15 years put together. Pretty scandalous.

[–] novastar_6 16 years ago

Yes but it seems that the time when it was really groundbreaking was when Clark Gable said it just once in Gone with the Wind, because I remember reading about how before Gone with the Wind came out, Katherine Hepburn said it when she was reciting the sleepwalking scene from MacBeth, as if it was the first time the word was used in a movie, but wouldn't you know they had Cary Grant interrupt her so you didn't hear it clearly. Anyway, after Gone with the Wind which was what, 4 years before this movie? I guess they had time to adapt to it and get used to it.

[–] wmoores 16 years ago

The statue had the the phrase, "Full speed ahead." Coburn used this alternately with, "Full steam ahead." Isn't the latter a goof?

[–] ck1-5 14 years ago

I think the fact that it was a direct quote helped them get away with using it.....if only George Washington had been quoted as saying "Fvque" the British!" at the onset of the Revolutionary War, the language barrier in films may have been broken down much earlier than it was!

[–] Reedmalloy 8 years ago

It's an intentional malaprop for comic effect.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6362) 3 years ago

Probably just changing it up a little as well so that it doesn't get too boring.

[–] skiddoo 14 years ago

I don't watch a lot of WWII war movies but surely the soldiers aren't all speaking with perfect Sunday School English. :)